Joaquin Phoenix reportedly grew emotional as his new film Eddington received a sustained standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.
The new film from Midsommar director Ari Aster has been described as a state-of-the-nation comedy that riffs on Covid, cults and the white savior complex. It stars Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone alongside Phoenix.
The festival’s reaction drew contrasting reports. Variety wrote that Phoenix had “teared up” during a “5-minute standing ovation,” while Deadline claimed it was a “nearly 7-minute ovation.”
The Hollywood Reporter also noted Phoenix “tearing up” but described a “somewhat muted standing ovation.”
Aster joked to the crowd: “I don’t know what you think. Thank you for being here. I feel very privileged to be here. It’s a dream come true. Thank you so much for having me. And, I don’t know — sorry? I don’t know.”
The 38-year-old New York-born director added: “This was a great experience. I love all these people around me.”
In a four-star review of Eddington for The Independent, critic Sophie Monks Kaufman wrote: “Set in 2020, amid the pandemic and the wave of Black Lives Matter protests that erupted after the police murder of George Floyd, Eddington initially cleaves to Aster’s usual character template.
“We are plunged into the daily doings of Sheriff Joe Cross (Phoenix), an impulsive asthmatic who gets so mad about the state mandate requiring him to wear a mask that he decides to run for mayor against long-standing enemy Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal).
“In parallel, Joe is losing his wife Louise (Emma Stone) to the web presence of budding cult leader Vernon Jefferson Peak (a sparingly used, scene-stealing Austin Butler). Louise is suffering from a mysterious trauma, doesn’t like to be touched and refers to herself in the third person when stressed.
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“In bouts of wellness, she makes creepy dolls that Joe pays his colleague to buy. Rounding out his household is mother-in-law Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), who relishes nothing more than berating everyone – her voice is often heard off camera while Joe suffers in the foreground.
“This is Aster’s funniest film to date, and makes use of an ever expanding and shifting cast to dot the 150-minute runtime with well-observed comic details and visual payoffs. These often riff on the deadpan reactions of the Black and Native American characters to Joe and his meathead deputy.
“Aster’s enduring preoccupation with the paranoid universes we build in our minds takes on a less sympathetic, more malign aspect when this self-absorption wears a law enforcement badge and carries a rifle.”
